Barriers to Product Repair: Exploring Motivations and Capabilities Among Operators

Abstract This study explores barriers to product repair from the perspective of common ‘do-it-yourself’ users and commercial operators. Through a systematic literature review, we identify and compare repair barriers faced by different operators. Our findings highlight that operators predominantly struggle with limited capability (e.g., lack of skills, tools, spare parts) and motivation (e.g., economic motivation and environmental motivation) to repair. In comparison, commercial operators show greater capability than common users but struggle with the economic motivation of repair due to the necessity of financially compensating their labor. In contrast, common users exhibit a lower capability but benefit from additional motivating factors, such as reduced labor costs and product attachment. A subsequent case study illustrates how these barriers manifest within the repair procedure of an exemplary product. Further, we show how the varying capability and motivation among operators constrain the range of viable repair strategies. Navigating this interplay between repair operator and repair viability holds the potential to assess and enable targeted repair strategies for a diverse range of operators, thereby promoting product repairability and circularity.